July is here and I’m just getting back to my blog. I’m ashamed of my lack of time as of late and hope to get back on track real soon. It is so easy to fill my blog with all the excuses of why I haven’t entered our disc stories as of late but I’m sure the entertainment value would go down within the first five minutes. In a nutshell my excuse is life just became a little more complicated as of late. Not to bore you with the details, we basically had to retreat to our second home and make new living accommodations for the boys. Not that this is a bad thing but those who know me know I’m not the best in getting up in the morning and my farm is about 50 minutes from my work. I know most of your are saying that is a normal day in traffic. Again I’m use to having a 3 minute drive to work and all of sudden adding 50 minutes to my commute just doesn’t work for me. Plus I find our shower at the farm isn’t as hot as I would like and starting the morning off cranky just seems to stretch into the rest of my day! So the final decision was to split the boys and pretty much put my freestyle dreams on the shelf as my main dogs are now living the good life of just running around on the farm.

Although I haven’t been developing my skills does not mean we haven’t been active in growing the sport. We were working closely with the Edmonton Humane Society to provide a day of entertainment at the 18th annual dog walk. This event is the main fundraiser for the shelter. ARFF hosted our first local trial and focused on distance and accuracy rounds and time trial. It was great to have three junior handlers out and it was great to see the kids playing with their parents in the team events. Aidan Lalonde and his border collies Milly and Mason were awesome and Aidan really has a great throwing arm… watch out for him in September. But not far behind Aidan was Troy Der with Cody a mix breed that was rescued from a local rescue group a few years ago. The pair showed of their skills with precision throws and huge air. Ella Caine joined in the fun by taking the throwing basics 101 instruction before the event and was entered with Sam who is a springer mix. She was our youngest handler and she is 8. All the moms that played in the team events with your kids you ROCK!

Several of us did our freestyle routines for the large crowds and we even found out that Ninja a JRT owned by Gord Donhue really does like sheep. Who new a JRT wants to be a herder rather than a freestyler! Two new presenters were Donna and Bill from our February seminar in Calgary. It was great to see them out and how far they have come in such a short time. Now that they have had a taste of what to expect I’m sure they will be rockin it in September.

Special thanks goes out to Petland and Petcurean for donating prizes for the event. Petcurean manufacturers Go and Now food and is made in Canada, has a great product and a great disc ad that we gave out to general public. Each participant went home with a Legacy t-shirt, Petland gift bag, 1lb sample of Go and a disc. I can’t thank our sponsors enough for making this a great event as our Overall Jr Champion – Aidan Lalonde was very happy to receive a 25lb bag of Go and a special prize from Petland. Gord Donhue had great rounds with Kanga his Australian Shepherd, his final score was 33.5 in distance and accuracy. Not far behind was Kelly Lalonde with Milly and Mason two very nice border collies who placed second and third. Each participant received prizes from Go/Now and the prized Skyhoundz plaques. In the time trial Vapor a mix breed sped home in 18 seconds and Davy a whippet first time out did it in 22 seconds, 3rd place went to Sam a Border Collie at 27 seconds owned by Melissa Forsythe from Innisfail, Alberta. Once the time breaker with Sam and Swift a mix breed owned by Donna McClaughin from Lethbridge, Alberta was determined. We also offered team D/A and team time trial to round out the day of good family fun. Congratulations go out to Conky (Border Collie) with Gary Waselenchuk and his daughter for first place in Team D/A and to Melissa/Bill with Jessie for fastest team time trial with Jessie at 21 seconds. For more results go to the ARFF website.

Our next competition will be another local Skyhoundz trial on Sept 4 and Sept 5 will be the World Qualifier! Entries will be closing in August.

Have a great summer!